~Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace.” Charles Sumner 1811-1874

Charles Sumner -Anti-Slaver

Anti-SlaverCharles Sumner

Charles Sumner, American politician and senator from Massachusetts, was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War and Reconstruction.

As leader of the Radical Republicans he sought to destroy slavery and radically transform the South, and worked to guarantee equal rights to the Freedmen ( a freedmen was a former slave who had been released from slavery).

Sumner fought hard to provide equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen and devoted his enormous energy to the destruction of “Slave Power” and all attempts and efforts of slave owners to take control of the federal government to ensure the survival and expansion of slavery. Sumner died while still in office at 63 years of age.

It was reported at the time of Sumner’s death, “Not since the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865 had the nation grieved so deeply at the loss of one of its statesmen.”

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From The Pen Of Charles Sumner

“From the beginning of our history the country has been afflicted with compromise. It is by compromise that human rights have been abandoned.”

“The age of chivalry has gone; the age of humanity has come.”

“No true and permanent fame can be found except in labors which promote the happiness if mankind.”